5.  The applicant was born in 1969 and lives in Łódź.
6.  On 27 December 2001 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder committed in an organised criminal group.
7.  On 28 December 2001 the Łódź District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) remanded him in custody, relying on a reasonable suspicion that he had committed the offences in question. It attached importance to the serious nature of those offences and the likelihood of a severe prison sentence being imposed on the applicant. It further considered that keeping the applicant in detention was necessary to secure the proper conduct of the proceedings, given the risk that he might tamper with evidence, induce witnesses to give false testimony or go into hiding.
8.  An appeal by the applicant against the detention order, and likewise his further appeals against some of the decisions extending his detention and all his subsequent applications for release and appeals against refusals to release him, were unsuccessful. In his applications and appeals, he argued that his lengthy detention had violated the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
9.  In the course of the investigation, the applicant's detention was extended on several occasions, namely, on 22 March 2002 (to 29 May 2002), 21 May 2002 (to 29 September 2002) and 20 September 2002 (to 14 October 2002). In all their decisions on the matter the courts relied on the original grounds given for the applicant's detention. They also stressed that owing to the complexity of the case and the large volume of evidence, the investigation had still not been completed.
10.  On an unspecified date, the prosecution filed a bill of indictment with the Łódź Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy). The bill of indictment comprised numerous charges of murder, attempted murder, extortion and illegal possession of firearms brought against fifteen defendants. The applicant was charged with murder and attempted murder committed in an organised criminal group.
11.  During the trial the courts further extended the applicant's pre-trial detention on several occasions, namely, on 24 December 2002 (to 27 December 2003), 9 December 2003 (to 30 April 2004), 14 April 2004 (to 31 December 2004), 21 December 2004 (to 30 June 2005), 22 June 2005 (to 31 December 2005), 21 December 2005 (to 30 April 2006), 26 April 2006 (to 31 July 2006), on 21 November 2007 (to 9 March 2008) and 26 February 2008 (to 9 September 2008). They repeated the grounds previously given for the applicant's continued detention. The courts relied especially on the complexity of the case, the large number of co-accused and the substantial volume of evidence to be examined. Finally, they attached importance to the relations between the accused who were all alleged members of an organised criminal group.
12.  On 4 November 2003 the trial court held the first hearing. It subsequently held some 78 hearings in the case.
13.  On 9 June 2006 the Łódź Regional Court found the applicant guilty as charged and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The applicant appealed.
14.  On 13 and 15 November 2007 the Łódź Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) held hearings.
15.  On 21 November 2007 the Łódź Court of Appeal quashed the first-instance judgment in respect of the applicant and remitted the case.
16.  On 26 September 2008 the applicant was released from custody and placed under police supervision.
17.  The proceedings before the Łódź Regional Court are still pending.
18.  On 27 December 2001 the applicant was committed to Sieradz Remand Centre. Since that date he has been continuously detained in turn in Płock Remand Centre, Łódź Remand Centre, Opole Remand Centre and Głubczyce Remand Centre. On 27 March 2007 he was transferred back to Łódź Remand Centre where he remained until his release on 26 September 2008.
19.  The parties gave partly differing accounts of the conditions of the applicant's detention.
20.  In his initial application to the Court the applicant maintained that during his detention in Łódź Remand Centre he had been held in overcrowded cells in conditions which did not comply with the basic standards of hygiene. In his letter to the Court of 16 June 2008 he extended his allegations to the remaining penitentiary facilities.
21.  The Government submitted that they could not confirm whether during his stay in Łódź Remand Centre from 16 October 2002 to 14  February 2005, from 23 February 2005 to 20 July 2006 and from 27  March 2007 to 8 August 2007 the applicant had been detained in cells with a surface area of at least 3 m² per person. However, they acknowledged that during the applicant's stay in the remand centre a penitentiary judge was regularly notified about the overcrowding in that facility. Regarding the period of the applicant's detention in Łódź Remand Centre after 8 August 2007, the Government acknowledged that the applicant had spent 171 days in cells in which the statutory minimum size of 3 m² per person had not been respected. The Government did not comment on the conditions of the applicant's detention in the remaining penitentiaries.
22.  The applicant did not lodge any formal complaints with the penitentiary authorities regarding the conditions of his detention. Nor did he bring a civil action to seek compensation for the infringement of his personal rights.
23.  On 15 February and 14 May 2008 the applicant posted letters to the Court's Registry. On 25 February 2008 he posted a letter to the Ombudsman. On 19 March 2008 he posted a letter to the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. All acknowledgments of the posting of these letters bear a stamp “Łódź Regional Court, censored (“ocenzurowano”), date and illegible signature”.